


Dance of the Lions

by ThatScottishShipper



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Dancing, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, Gift Exchange, Idiots in Love, Light Angst, M/M, Mind Meld, Mutual Pining, Secret Santa, Sentient Voltron Lions, Sheith Secret Santa 2019, Shiro (Voltron) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, dont post to another site
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-20 14:36:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22018924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatScottishShipper/pseuds/ThatScottishShipper
Summary: The bond between a Paladin and their Lion is a close, intimate one. They can share emotions and thoughts as readily as if they were their own.So what happens when Red Lion experiences Keith’s love for Shiro?*Written for Sheith Secret Santa 2019.*
Relationships: Black Lion/Red Lion, Keith & Red Lion (Voltron), Keith/Shiro (Voltron), Shiro & Black Lion (Voltron)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 55





	Dance of the Lions

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rednight16](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rednight16/gifts).



Humiliated, Keith cringed at the sound of Lance’s laughter.

The Red Paladin despised helplessness, but thanks to the powerful bond between a Lion and Paladin, that is exactly where he found himself. In the neon red interior of the cockpit, Keith’s blush glowed like fire.

That menacing cackle crackled through the communication system, and Keith’s blood boiled.

_ ‘Goddammit, Lance.’ _

But in the end, he blamed himself. His distraction, his lack of self-control, led to this. From sitting in a circle, connecting to the other Paladins, but trying to shelter his thoughts, to taking the pilot’s seat…

Leading to his current predicament - the Red Lion nuzzling affectionately against the Black Lion, with Shiro inside, against the wishes of His Paladin.

Because his feelings weren’t so  _ freaking _ embarrassing enough.

And it wasn’t helped at all by Lance snort laughing dramatically over the communication. Even Pidge joined in on the chuckling, barely attempting to play the civility card.

At least Hunk tried to calm Lance and Pidge down between what was indisputably his red face buried behind his hands.

“Oh my god, you guys, can you  _ not? _ ”

But they did, finding shameless amusement in Keith’s embarrassment.

Then there was Coran, squawking about how this proved the unshakable bond between a Paladin and it’s Lion, a Paladin and another Paladin, through their strong trust and love -

“Yeah, thanks, Coran!” Keith groaned, trying to re-maneuver Red away from Black Lion to no avail. “Red, stop! I have no control over -  _ listen to me! _ ”

The Red Lion  _ purred _ inside their collective minds, and a fresh round of laughter exploded.

_ ‘End me,’  _ Keith wished, praying the fires of his own flushed cheeks would consume him, leaving nothing behind on the pilot’s seat.

What made the whole thing worse was Shiro’s silence. Why didn’t he say anything? Whatever did he think of Keith, the Paladin who not only couldn’t get his own Lion under control, but let such emotions leak from him?

Emotions that he dared to speak aloud?

The red cockpit glowed with intensity, channelling Keith’s emotions in a vibrant light. A burst of affection suddenly bloomed inside the Lion, causing Keith to tremble. The warm aura that comforted him whenever he basked in Shiro’s presence, but scared him with its intensity, or the knowledge that someone might discover it.

Keith swore he saw it, suffused inside the cockpit, a loving pink energy that felt so beautiful, but it almost entered his mind, turning everything to a sweet candyfloss cotton.

But he knew he wasn’t alone.

He felt Shiro in his mind too, swimming in that sickly sweet miasma of tenderness, bound by their Lions, by their roles as Paladins. Once Black Lion nudged again Red Lion, eliciting the deepest purr, Keith knew for sure.

“Shiro…?”

Lance shrieked even harder, and Hunk flinched, but he was endeared by the sight, a small part of him relieved Keith’s feelings were reciprocated to spare embarrassment.

As for Keith, he was swimming in bliss, the sweetest feelings of love that he never expected to have returned. With every nudge from the Black Lion’s muzzle, and a vibrating purr from Red Lion, Keith actually felt… loved, appreciated, wanted.

“Beat it, you two lovebirds,” Pidge said, rolling her eyes. “Get it out your system already.”

“What Pidge means is,” Hunk interjected, trying to save the moment. “Go on a date, and we’ll meet at the Castle later.”

“Aye, Cap,” Shiro shot back playfully, staring out at Red with a whimsical smile.

Between the two, they shared an unspoken connection, and then, they were off into the sky together. Soaring into the infinite wonder of space, the two Lions trailed shimmering red and purple light. To an alien observer, they might have mistaken it for a nebula sunset, overtaking the starlight.

Then, as Keith wondered if he was following Shiro when Shiro might have been following him, as the Lions swirled around each other, he realised something.

The Black Lion, or rather Shiro, piloted in circular formations around him on purpose. He smirked, touched by the playfulness only he was permitted to see.

“Shiro?” Keith’s smirk still lingered, betraying his voice. “What are you doing?”

On Shiro’s end, the softness from Red Lion reached him, and he melted against the steering wheel.

“We’ve got a little time,” the Black Paladin said, referring to their inevitable return to the Castle of Lions, their lives as Paladins. “Care to dance?”

Raising an eyebrow, Keith pondered what Shiro meant. They were in the Lions, flying at high speed, in space. How could they…

The Black Lion appeared to bow? Keith understood loud and clear.

_ ‘You dork,’ _ Keith thought affectionately, reigning Red Lion in.

And then the Dance of Lions began, a slow whirl of two mechanical hearts beating together. Behind the two Lions, entwined in a mesmerising dance, a blanket of stars bared witness to their dance. They moved in gentle clock like movement together, a red and black spiral that melted into a dazzling sparkle of stardust around them.

It reminded Keith of a Catherine Wheel, fizzing with excitement in all directions, much like his heart and stomach in that moment. The stroke of affection in his mind told him Shiro felt the same way.

Suddenly, Keith fell backwards in time to their Paladin training, to their mind meld, when they attempted to open their consciousnesses to one another. Except this time, Keith absorbed the full intensity of Shiro’s mind, like he lived there, lived his life.

Keith gasped, clutching hard at the controls.

The flashing white light, the demonising jeering baying for blood, the tortuous confines of a jail cell and being strapped onto a medical table, experimented on. At one point, Keith clutched his own arm, expecting to feel cold, hard metal…

Or nothing at all.

He couldn’t take it anymore.

Disconnecting himself by force, Keith darted from his chair, and made a break from the Red Lion completely. Propelling him the short distance between the Lions, the Paladin raced towards Shiro, pent up with heartache.

But he was not alone.

Before he could even blink, Shiro embraced him, holding him so painfully close until all his hurt evaporated into the stars.

Even then, the Black Paladin still held him, unwilling to let go.

“I’m sorry,” Shiro murmured against Keith’s shoulder, sending a swarm of regret towards the other man. “I’m so sorry, Keith.”

Keith blinked, overcome by Shiro’s melancholy. “What’re you apologising for? You…” He hesitated, wondering if he should mention it. “You’ve had a harder time than me.”

Shiro pulled back, eyes widened. “You… saw it?”

When Keith nodded, Shiro averted his gaze, unable to hide his tearing up eyes behind his helmet. That heartbreaking gesture was all Keith needed. He reached out to touch the side of Shiro’s helmet, encouraging him to look, to not be afraid.

“It’s like I was there with you,” Keith said sadly, unable to shake the memories of Shiro’s torture from his mind. “Or rather, as you.”

The Black Paladin’s small voice came out, his wet eyes slowly meeting Keith. “And I saw you, in that home… alone. After I left… Keith, I’m so sorry.”

Keith shook his head. “It’s okay. I knew you’d come back.”

With every breath, Shiro imagined Keith at a board within a tiny house, connecting the dots like star constellations, praying that someone dear to him found his way home.

Still, even with his own torturous ordeal, Shiro couldn’t help but wallow in guilt. He was all Keith had in the world, and the thought of every night the young man spent alone, stabbed with heartache…

It was more than he could take.

At the climax of their swan song, returning to a safer altitude, Shiro’s lips found Keith, the world still slowly spinning lazily around them. Swirling around them, like a protective shell around two hearts, Red and Black Lion nuzzled, their metallic tails entwined.

Those painful memories, the screaming of their hearts, slowly dissolved into a soft, healing light existing somewhere between a rich, heart pounding red, and a soothing, nightfall black.

Everything blended, mixed together in an experience so strange that Shiro and Keith, through their first kiss, almost lost their sense of selves. They felt like they were one and the same, two hearts in a single life form, drifting through life until they reunited, clicking together.

Keith’s hand held the back of Shiro’s neck, encouraging him softly, even if his wants broadcast loud and clear.

And Shiro continued to hold Keith, realising just how much he craved physical contact, a loving heart, in his departure from Earth. It only made sense that Keith, loyal and loving Keith, was there for him, never giving up on him, even when he sometimes felt like surrendering on himself.

A Starlight by any other name, Keith, sharing all his beautiful red light with him.

And Shiro, absorbing that loving light, held up the most beautiful star in the sky with his unyielding arms, like the wondrous night sky.

**Author's Note:**

> My Sheith Secret Santa 2019 fill for rednight16. Prompt was Sheith with hurt/comfort, early relationship building, anything with the Lions flying, and dancing.
> 
> Honestly, I had this silly little idea of the Red Lion nuzzling against the Black Lion, embarrassing the hex out of Keith and Shiro for awhile, but being the source of amusement to everyone else for a while, but I had no idea what to do with it.
> 
> Originally, I thought about making it a small, comedy piece with little weight to it, but once the Exchange came through, and the subject was ‘anything involving the Lions,’ I really wanted to link that to the story.
> 
> Everything else just naturally fit into place, with the Lions connection, mind melding, the beautiful dance, and everything in between.
> 
> Hurt/comfort is also one of my big jams, so I brought that in with the whole Paladins/Lions connecting by mind meld, and the two experiencing what the other went through during the Kerberos Mission.
> 
> And it ends with a kissy.
> 
> Story also technically is a Black Lion/Red Lion ship, so double shipping? Yay. 🖤❤️
> 
> Thank you very much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it. 🖤❤️


End file.
